In general, industrial washers and dryers are utilized to wash and dry a wide array of articles throughout industry. In manufacturing and assembly operations, it is often desirable to rid an article of cutting oils, grease, dirt and loose machined pieces by placing the articles through an industrial washer and dryer prior to subsequent machining, assembling and/or gauging operations. Typically, each industrial washer and dryer design requires a method of carrying or conveying the articles through the washer and dryer. Many different conveyors have been designed and utilized, and many disadvantages have been discovered pertaining to different conveyor designs.
Often, conveyors are utilized to carry articles along a linear path wherein the washing and drying process occurs between the ends of the linear path. The use of linear path conveyors for industrial washer and dryers are typically inefficient since they require a large amount of space as well as requiring a separate operator or mechanism for loading and unloading the conveyor at each end of the linear conveyor.
Many conveyors utilized in conjunction with industrial washer and dryers are continuous, wherein articles are continually conveyed through the washing and drying process until the articles are removed from the conveyor. Typically, continuous conveyors are over and under type conveyors wherein the conveyor conveys articles upright along an upper conveyor path and then rotates 180.degree. to create a lower return path beneath the upper conveyor path. Such over and under conveyors may be utilized to convey articles in both linear and non-linear paths. Other continuous conveyors travel in a continuous path along a common plane such as a circular or oval path.
Such continuous conveyors do pose problems when manually loaded and/or unloaded. First, the articles on the conveyor must be continually loaded and unloaded, or the articles may continuously cycle through the washing and drying process unnecessarily. Secondly, if the articles are allowed to continually cycle through the washing and drying process, there is no way to identify the articles or the number of times the articles have been cycled. Thus, articles become unidentifiable and placed through unnecessary washing and drying cycles which create inefficiencies that are undesirable in industry.
Conveyors utilized in conjuction with industrial washers and dryers must also be designed to withstand the corrosive environments of washing solutions, excessive heat, water, etc. Thus, such a conveyor must be designed and manufactured from materials that will not rust, corrode or degrade in any manner that would hinder their ability to perform.